PUMP Token Sees 40% Premium in Pre-Market Trading Ahead of Official July 12 Launch

London – The highly anticipated PUMP token, native to the Solana-based memecoin launchpad pump.fun, is trading at a significant premium on perpetual futures exchanges, signaling intense speculative interest just hours before its official Initial Coin Offering (ICO) on July 12, 2025. This pre-market activity has ignited discussions among crypto traders regarding potential sell pressure once the token becomes fully available.

The PUMP token, set to launch at an ICO price of $0.004, has been observed trading as high as $0.0056 on platforms like Hyperliquid, representing a 40% premium. This surge in pre-market valuation suggests a fully diluted valuation (FDV) for pump.fun of approximately $4 billion, surpassing its initial target. The public sale will offer 150 billion PUMP tokens, constituting 15% of the total 1 trillion supply.

Prominent crypto analyst "Keyboard Monkey -KBM-" highlighted concerns about the token's launch, stating in a recent tweet, > "What’s the plan for PUMP? Seems to me that since there are perps and trading of it alrdy that it’s basically priced and not much will happen on launch? Besides sell pressure since everyone’s unlocked?" This sentiment reflects broader market anxieties regarding the impact of early investors and pre-sale participants potentially offloading their tokens.

Indeed, the ICO structure indicates that all tokens allocated in the private and public sales will be fully unlocked at launch, which could contribute to immediate sell pressure as mentioned in the tweet. Large traders, often referred to as "whales," have reportedly deposited millions in stablecoins on platforms like Hyperliquid to open low-leverage short positions on PUMP futures, likely as a hedging strategy against their expected token allocations.

Pump.fun, launched in early 2024, has rapidly become a dominant force in the memecoin ecosystem, enabling users to create and trade Solana-based tokens with minimal friction. The platform has generated over $600 million in cumulative revenue from its 1% swap fees and listing fees for "graduating" coins. Its success has been attributed to its user-friendly interface and role as a hub for community-driven token projects.

The official token sale is scheduled to run until July 15 or until sold out, with major exchanges including Bybit, Kraken, KuCoin, and Gate.io participating. While the PUMP token is not required to use the pump.fun platform, holding it may unlock future perks. The token launch is seen by many as a pivotal moment for pump.fun, aiming to expand its social trading features and improve platform quality amidst growing competition and past controversies, including a lawsuit alleging it operates as an unregistered securities exchange.